Michigan Permies!

I'd really like to meet up with other Michigan Permies because I just bought 10 acres in the U.P. and I want to build a retirement place there totally off the grid but super comfortable with hot showers and electricity, Wi-Fi and every conceivable amenity. I have 20 years to plan and build so I am in no hurry. So If you dont mind visitors I'd like to stop by and see what your doing and get ideas for my place in the U.P..

Darin Hamel wrote:I'd really like to meet up with other Michigan Permies because I just bought 10 acres in the U.P. and I want to build a retirement place there totally off the grid but super comfortable with hot showers and electricity, Wi-Fi and every conceivable amenity. I have 20 years to plan and build so I am in no hurry. So If you dont mind visitors I'd like to stop by and see what your doing and get ideas for my place in the U.P..

What part of the UP? I have a camp in Menominee County.

About 15 miles north of Newberry in Tehquamenon Woods and about 5 miles west of the Falls. I'm in Luce county.

Darin Hamel wrote:About 15 miles north of Newberry in Tehquamenon Woods and about 5 miles west of the Falls. I'm in Luce county.

Big buck territory!

Solar cell, broilers, roofs, fruit tres etc only last about 20 years.
So build everything now, find ways to streamline activities/hravesting/etc.
And save money for a big overall in 20yrs when you are ready to stop working for money.

Do you see yourself killing/processing a 2000lbs cow or a dwarf 50lbs goat or a 3lbs fish/chicken in 20-30 yrs.
Are you going to climb a 30ft apple tree.

S Bengi wrote:Solar cell, broilers, roofs, fruit tres etc only last about 20 years.
So build everything now, find ways to streamline activities/hravesting/etc.
And save money for a big overall in 20yrs when you are ready to stop working for money.

Do you see yourself killing/processing a 2000lbs cow or a dwarf 50lbs goat or a 3lbs fish/chicken in 20-30 yrs.
Are you going to climb a 30ft apple tree.

Solar heating lasts decades longer, and this is what he'll need to learn. After building a small tight swedish-coped log house out of thick cedars, heated by wood, solar water heating and a solar greenhouse should be tops to ease the burden on the wood lot. Build a number of rascally-looking hugelkulturs, get some tall fencing for a garden, and plant zone 4 fruit and berry bushes everywhere.

Yes, I can see my 80 year old self butchering whitetail deer and climbing 30 foot trees. Not sure if that would really happen though...

S Bengi wrote:Solar cell, broilers, roofs, fruit tres etc only last about 20 years.
So build everything now, find ways to streamline activities/hravesting/etc.
And save money for a big overall in 20yrs when you are ready to stop working for money.

Do you see yourself killing/processing a 2000lbs cow or a dwarf 50lbs goat or a 3lbs fish/chicken in 20-30 yrs.
Are you going to climb a 30ft apple tree.

I dont want to do any of that now! I do plan on chickens because of the tick problem up there. As for the rest... I was raised on a farm. In 20 years I will be 66 and I have seen much older people doing the things you described and who lets their apple tree get 30 feet high? If you prune the thing you get a ton more apples. I plan on 20 years of trial and error research plus getting advice for the next twenty years. I have lived off the land a lot in my life, for months at a time. Twenty years of planning should make this a really, really nice retirement spot.

My home is a toss up between a sandbag dome and an underground bunker style home. I'd like to build something really cool that will last a hundred years or more with little maintenance. I really like the strawbale homes but I don't trust them. I like the artistic side of these eco-friendly homes, too. Some of the domes I have seen are really beautiful.

I vote for sand bag

Darin Hamel wrote:

S Bengi wrote:Solar cell, broilers, roofs, fruit tres etc only last about 20 years.
So build everything now, find ways to streamline activities/hravesting/etc.
And save money for a big overall in 20yrs when you are ready to stop working for money.

Do you see yourself killing/processing a 2000lbs cow or a dwarf 50lbs goat or a 3lbs fish/chicken in 20-30 yrs.
Are you going to climb a 30ft apple tree.

I dont want to do any of that now! I do plan on chickens because of the tick problem up there. As for the rest... I was raised on a farm. In 20 years I will be 66 and I have seen much older people doing the things you described and who lets their apple tree get 30 feet high? If you prune the thing you get a ton more apples. I plan on 20 years of trial and error research plus getting advice for the next twenty years. I have lived off the land a lot in my life, for months at a time. Twenty years of planning should make this a really, really nice retirement spot.

Interesting. I went the cedar cabin route made from (very large) mostly fallen cedar trees. But I had a 48 inch deep R-42 insulated foundation built for it. If you were to look at Google Earth, you will see my 40 acres, with the exception or the clay/rock outcrop the cabin is built on, is a giant swale for the sections immediately to the west. Have fun!

Hi, well I'm almost 62 and I have no real problem getting things done around my permaculture / food forest property. sure sometimes reaching things and lifting and moving things can be a challenge, but I manage to get er done (usually better than some 20 year olds).

I live in the NW quadrant of the lower peninsula, S of Traverse city..and you are welcome to stop in when you are travelling N, just off US131 at the end of the expressway.

We lost our home and a lot of our food forests to a housefire in 2002 so we have been rebuilding and replanting a lot over the past few years, as we could afford. I plant new fruit and nut trees every year, I have a load of baby trees and vines coming this spring already ordered. A few of them are getting to bear stage now, so things are starting to take some shape again. We lost all but just a few of our fruit trees and I'm happy to say I picked a pear, a medlar and a bunch of hazelnuts on my baby trees for the first time last year even with our horrible late frosts and droughts.

We are having another unusually mild winter here in Michigan again, a good time to get started..sure different than the hard winters we were used to. Hope you enjoy your move to the UP